Here in South Carolina you can pretty much find a BBQ joint that serves pulled pork on every corner. The problem with getting it at a restaurant is the sugar-laden BBQ sauce, which will knock you out of ketosis faster than you can say “Porky Pig.”

So what’s a low carbin’ BBQ lovin’ Yankee to do? Well you might think you need a smoker or other fancy equipment to make a decent pulled pork at home, but you’d be wrong. All you need is a crock pot, aka. slow cooker and you could be enjoying some keto-friendly pulled pork in just a few short hours.

It may not win you any fancy BBQ trophies over on the Food Network (or maybe it would), but trust me when I say that no one you serve it to is going to care whether it’s been slow smoked for 24 hours over reclaimed Noah’s Ark lumber that’s been cured with the tears of 1,000 Unicorns or not.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork – Low Carb and Gluten Free

Description

A simple and delicious keto-friendly pulled pork recipe made in the slow cooker.

Scale

Ingredients

For the pulled pork:

3lb boneless pork shoulder (aka. Boston Butt)

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp mustard powder

1/2 cup water

For the BBQ sauce:

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard

2 tsp hot sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot)

3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp low sugar ketchup

4 Tbsp granulated sugar substitute

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Instructions

For the pulled pork:

In a small bowl, combine the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, allspice, celery salt, cloves, and mustard powder. Mix well. Rub the spice mixture all over your pork. Add the water to a large crock pot. Place the spice rubbed pork in the pot and cover. Cook on high for four hours, or until tender and falling apart. Remove the meat from the crock pot, leaving the juices behind. Shred the meat with clean hands, or use two forks to “pull” it apart.

For the sauce:

Skim the solids and visible fat from the top of the liquid and discard. Add all of the sauce ingredients to the remaining liquid in the crockpot, whisking until smooth. Cover and cook on high for about 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add the meat back to the sauce and stir until fully coated. Serve hot.

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I thought this recipe was too heavy on the mustard. I ended up having to add liquid smoke and then some packaged BBQ sauce to make it palatable to my family. I’m all for keto but I thought this missed the mark. Sorry!

I made this and it was delicious. I made a double batch and am so glad I did. The whole family loved it. I usually have to tweak recipes and was all set to do the same with this one. I started with the BBQ sauce thinking I only need half the amount of sugar substitute. Nope. The recipe is perfect the way it’s written. We had it on Romain Lettuce leaves rolled up. Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s a keeper.

Loved this. The pork was great even before the sauce. That spice rub really did a nice job. I used a little less substitute sugar and a little less hot sauce and really love how it came out. Thank you!!!

Made this a few days ago because it’s been a long time since I’ve had BBQ. I had a 6 lb Boston butt roast so I doubled the rub ingredients but I didn’t double the sauce. Unfortunately it did not seem to have much flavour. It’s sitting in my fridge till I figure out what to do with it. Should I mix up another batch of bbq sauce and add it in?

What sugar substitute do you use? I have an Erythritol/Stevia blend that I use, but I want to make sure of my measurement conversion before I make the sauce. Do you use Erythritol, Xylitol, Splenda, Truvia? All of them measure differently against what I use. Thanks!

I made this pork over the weekend for Father’s Day and it was a HUGE hit! Everyone said it was delicious and we have some left over to put on top of salads for the week. I made this and the chocolate covered strawberry cheesecake from Carolyn and it was just the PERFECT weekend. I’m not one for caps… this is serious business. :) Thank you for this delicious recipes! It will become a regular staple around here.

Just coming back to say thanks again. Just made this to give out to a friend who had surgery, another with a baby soon coming, and had enough left for me and the husband. This is the most amazing meal… it comes out perfectly every time. Thank you so much.

Hi There! I made this yesterday, except used about 3 lbs of pork ribs because that is what I had on hand. I also added a teaspoon of liquid smoke to the bbq sauce. My bbq sauce took much longer to thicken, but the end result was fantastic. I was so impressed with the depth of flavor. The pork was so good! And my bestie/roomie loved it! That’s how I knew it was good lol.

Thanks for these really tasty recipes! Who knew you could eat so well on a low-carb diet! :-)

This looks great! Can’t wait to try it. My slow cooker is a 1990 vintage model, but it does have a high and low setting (just haven’t a clue what the temperature it gets to at each setting is). Seems to work fine, though, so haven’t felt the need for a new one.

One request, though. Could you reduce the size of the photo so that the recipes would print out on only one page instead of two? Or make printing the photo optional? Many thanks.

Thanks for letting me know Eric, I changed the photo to a much smaller one which should fix the problem! And yes, any slow cooker that still works should do the trick for this – especially because this cut of meat is so forgiving! Hope you like it! Hope you like it!

I made this yesterday, and WOW! Is it good! The crockpot worked fine, and the meat was falling off the bone as I tried to remove it from the pot. I’m a bit of a hot sauce junkie, so I think I will use something with a bit more kick than Frank’s next time, and I did add several drops of Liquid Smoke to to the sauce, but that is just my taste. This is a fantastic recipe – easy and tasty. Put it on a low carb roll, or over mashed cauliflower, and have a bit of cole slaw on the side, and you’ll have a real treat! Now if Melissa would only come up with a low carb pecan pie to end the meal… ;)

I know right? I don’t know why I don’t use mine more often! Now that the warmer weather is coming (it IS coming right? RIGHT???) it will go back into storage for another 5 months. Oh well – now I can GRILL ALL OF THE THINGS!!!!

Hi Lisa! The xanthan gum acts as a thickener and gives the sauce that traditional thick texture of BBQ sauce that adheres to the meat. Usually you’d get that stickiness from all of the sugar in a sauce, but since this one has no sugar, the xanthan works perfectly as a substitute. You can omit it for sure, but instead of sauce it will be more like an au jus – still delicious though!

Thanks Carolyn! It’s true that you can’t beat a smoker for flavor – especially in ribs which I much prefer smoked to any other method!!! For pulled pork though, the crock pot is a great alternative! I want to get a smoker this year too – then I’ll be experimenting with smoking my own fish and jerky! Yum! Can’t wait to see what you’ll be cooking up with it over at your place this summer! :)

[…] own a barbecue (it’s definitely on our “To Buy” savings list!) so I’m going to make Pulled Pork from “I Breathe I’m Hungry” instead. Have you ever noticed that when you’re an adult (especially once you become a mom), […]

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My name is Mellissa Sevigny, and I use my culinary powers for good here at IBIH by creating delicious and satisfying low carb & keto recipes. If you’re looking to lose weight, feel amazing, AND eat some of the best food you’ve ever tasted – you’ve come to the right place. Welcome! Dig deeper →